Gorgonia Questions

Insane Reefer · #1 03/21/2007, 03:11 PM

Hi

I am on dialup, so searching RC can be very time consuming

I know my questions have been answered before, but which thread?

So I will just ask and hope that someone will answer or point me to a good thread or article...

I purchased a gorgonia from the LFS. I had done some light reading on them, but nothing in-depth - my bad. The LFS guy also didn't know if this was a photo or non-photo type, his info just said Medium Light/Medium Flow, which I have it in, I think.

Anyway, I have a 8g Biocube, with 36W PC. My water parameters are good, only a slight trace of nitrates, >10ppm, everything else, nil readings, though I haven't been able to get a reading from my calcium test

I bought the little guy on Saturday morning, and it was open and feeding within 3 hours. It was doing great on Sunday, and I did a water change and tank maintenance Monday evening, as well as glued the gorgonia to a rock. I got lucky and got the original "foot" for this colony, and that made gluing easy.

I haven't seen any polyps in over 36 hours - it opened a little while after I got done mucking around in the tank on Monday, around midnight, but didn't stay out long, and I haven't seen any since...

It doesn't have any coatings on it, or the waxy thing people talk about, and the stalks color is still like it was.

Nothing else in my tank seems to be sick, or doing poorly - I just had a mushroom divide again, and snails, shrimps and crabs all accounted for and happy.

Is this normal behaviour? Could the superglue "fumes" in the water have hurt it? How can I tell if it is ailing or just not coming out to play? Any suggestions?

Thank You!

Insane Reefer · #2 03/21/2007, 04:07 PM

This is the gorgonia...

Insane Reefer · #3 03/22/2007, 04:17 PM

27 people have viewed this thread and no one has any answers?

Come on, I don't want to loose this animal - will someone please reply?

Is it normal for gorgonias to withdraw for several days at a time?
What are the signs that a gorgonia is ill?
What can one do for them if they are ill?

Jocool · #4 03/22/2007, 05:39 PM

Not that Im correct, but I asked my LFS today, because I bought a very nice branch just like yours, and he strickly said glueing these is a NO-NO. Good luck.

Relax they are hardy HARDY and can act indifferent give it time!

mseferowicz · #5 03/22/2007, 06:39 PM

For one thing they definatley need good flow to shed the acumulating dead matter, mine did the same thing as yours opened up right away but then would not open for a few days I moved him to a better flow area and he's doing great.

As far as glue it's important to cut of the meaty part and only glue the "root' check out this site for more info.

http://www.garf.org/GORG03/WINTERGORG.html

Here's a close up of mine

Good Luck.

Illuminati · #6 03/22/2007, 06:41 PM

Put it directly in a high flow area so it gets blasted.

Gorgs are all somewhat photosynthetic so they need high light. I could never keep one in my stock 24 gallon nanocube but can keep them now after upgrading the lights to 108W.

What are you feeding? Some sort of phytoplankton I hope, don't overfeed either, phyto overfeeding can lead to problems.

If this one dies check out the gorgs from www.sealifeinc.com (Google Sea Life Inc if the link doesn't work). His are much easier to care for.

Jocool · #7 03/22/2007, 09:34 PM

Mine in my ten gallon that I just put less than 3 hours ago is already fully open and flourishing, I have it set not in direct flow but on the side of my powerhead. Mysis shrimp and photplanktin were feed to the tank about 1 hour ago. Things are jamming!

I hopoe youre perks up.

PONCHDOG2000 · #8 03/22/2007, 09:36 PM

some gorgonians are photosynthetic and some are not. you need to know which one yours is. if non photo, you might want to put it out of direct light to prevent algae growing on it and starving it. even if your nitrates read zero nuissance algaes will grow with undetectable measurements. gorgonians are not hardy. they are very difficult to keep. probably not a good animal to have in an aquarium (best in the wild) . they need constant phyto and other foods. people who have had success have had a direct and consant drip to them. most likely it will die a slow death. these are all things that i have read and experienced. im not trying to rain on your parade, but good luck.

dendro982 · #9 03/22/2007, 11:19 PM

If your is red finger gorgonian, Diodogorgia nodulifera, it will need a good flow and a lot of small food (maximal size, IMHE, is 800 micron - the large dried Cyclop-eezy), whatever is available to you, or make a fine blend of grocery seafood. Or, as I had read on these forums, it should be OK in the tanks, where fish receives a lot of food.

When food is present in the tank, it should open polyps, like on the photo below. BTW, it was the best location for it in Nano-Cube 6g (Mini-Jet 606 pump at the top right corner, outflow - top left corner, above the coral.

If you didn't glued alive red tissue, all should be OK. I recently glued one (previously cuting off the top red tissue), next day it started to open polyps and feed, better with every day.

Just watch for detritus accumulation.

Related links:
mounting gorgonians , recipe, using flakes and general info , best article on requirements .

Insane Reefer · #10 03/23/2007, 06:17 AM

"Gorgy Park 1" opened this morning to its full glory.

As I said, I got lucky, and the foot of the original base of the colony was what I got - it had a nice quarter sized "foot", spread over a bit of rubble - no drilled hole for my boys. Just a dab of glue was needed, and my LFS who fragged him said superglue fumes shouldn't effect it.

Mine is from the Indo-Pacific, according to the LFS - he checked his shipment papers, so this means a non-photo colony, correct? (Keys, photo - Indo, non-photo).

I'm feeding on an every 2 day regiment, Cyclops, and on a daily regiment, 3 drops of Kent Micro-Vert.

Thanks for the info, and for sharing the photos

mseferowicz, what type is yours? Is that a "common" yellow or something else? Very nice

I will try to get a photo while the lights are on of mine, as it is lights off right now (when its open).

So indifference is sort of common? I'm a worry wort - guess I will have to get over that, lol.

Anyway, thanks for the replies!

dendro982 · #11 03/23/2007, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Insane Reefer
...Mine is from the Indo-Pacific, according to the LFS - he checked his shipment papers, so this means a non-photo colony, correct? (Keys, photo - Indo, non-photo)

I'm not aware of this, just did the common name search to find requirements.

Quote:

So indifference is sort of common? I'm a worry wort - guess I will have to get over that, lol.

Everybody is busy with own problems, not everyone, who is keeping gorgonians, is attending the board frequently, and gorgonians were discussed on the pages not far ago - not the actual indifference, more lack of interest from the first sight...
Don't worry, I'm too not receiving expected replies in many cases, it happens.

Insane Reefer · #12 03/23/2007, 09:42 AM

I meant indifference of the colony, not the board

I figured they were discussed now and again, which is why I first of posted that I was on dialup, search stinks, any good threads on them? Thought I'd ask the people who might know.

But I am better now, and so is the colony.

John H Tullock in his book "Natural Reef Aquariums", discusses the two types of gorgonias. Typically the Keys types are in less than 4ft of water, on a limestone base - so these get massive amounts of light and are usually a single color though polyps may be a lighter or darker shade of the outside. Indo-Pacific types are deep water types, non-photo, and typified (but not exclusively) by the two color scheme.

MechEng99 · #13 03/25/2007, 04:52 PM

I have a yellow/red gorgonian that I've had for over a month now. It's non-photosynthetic. I have it right in front of my pump inlet so it gets absolutely blasted. I have a special recipe for it consisting of marine snow, micro-vert, crushed fish food, and brine shrimp (gotta get rid of it before I switch). Every couple of days I also clean every branch (even if it looks clean) just to make sure no algae is growing.

It absolutely seems to LOVE this arrangement. It's already grown some and non-photosynthetic ones usually grow fairly slow.

As far as gluing...

The original I got had the original foot...yay. I just took the rock and the coral out of the water...glued it right onto the rock. I didn't know the "proper" way at the time, but this is working so far. Also, a small piece broke during a move, so I glued that piece to another rock...and honestly, the little piece is doing even better than the big one. I've just been using super glue gel.

:shrug: I know my way isn't the "right" way...but it works.

Good luck.

cmsargent · #14 03/26/2007, 08:19 PM

Hey Insane reefer... that gorg is a Euplexaura sp. I have the same one. When open it's polyps are a more primary purple without the red tint of the flesh right? If you've seen the Dec/Jan 07 issue of Coral it's in there, which is how I IDed mine. BTW...great issue for anyone who's interested in Gorgs.

This guy has smaller polyps than the more common finger gorgs (Diodogorgia sp.) so it need smaller foods. I've gotten the best response from mine when feeing rotifers, 50-100 micron sized Golden pearls, and oyster eggs. I tend to feed mine a mix of these along with some phyto and some larger zooplankton like cyclopeze, bbs, and daphnia. (Gorgs don't actually eat the phyto but I have other filter feeders that do so I include it in my feed mix.) It does't seem able to ingest the cycolpeze. The polyps will occassionally grap it but then they drop it again, which I understand is its means of rejecting food to large to swallow. My diodo and swifta gorgs love the cyclopeze though.

It seems pretty normal for this gorg to have its polyps retracted. Mine opens when I feed and tends to stay open for a couple of hours and then retract. Unlike my swifta which has its polyps open most of the time. At 1st I worried that it might not get enough food. I feed twice a day so it's only feeding for 4-5 hours a day. However it is growing (not fast but maybe a 1/4" a month). I figure as long as its growing it must be getting enough food and so I stopped worrying about it being closed up so much.

Insane Reefer · #15 03/27/2007, 01:23 AM

Yeah, that's my gorgonia. Thanks for the ID - I will look it up.
I'll have to look into getting some better food for it.
Thanks for the info

Insane Reefer · #16 03/30/2007, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MechEng99
...Every couple of days I also clean every branch (even if it looks clean) just to make sure no algae is growing.

How does one "clean" them?

cmsargent · #17 03/30/2007, 11:05 PM

You can "clean" them by using a soft bristled brush (art paintbrushed work well) to gently rub the gog. You can also gently rub it between your fingertips. Many species have a waxy caoting that they'll shed if they have growth. I've seen this happen in one of my gorgs after it became overgrown with diatoms. I moved it to a higher flow area and it hasn't been a problem since then. You only need to clean them if they are getting covered with some type of growth. Excessive "cleaning" will just irritate them. I've never acutally cleaned any of mine. If they are under good flow they shouldn't need it.